While filling up her patrol vehicle, a North Carolina police officer got a strange feeling about a vehicle that was parked near the car wash with the windows down. The officer watched it while pumping gas and eventually decided to get a closer look, but she was deeply disturbed by what she found inside.
The Salisbury police officer was outside the Sheetz station when the simple trip to fuel up took a turn she wasn’t expecting that afternoon.
The strangely parked Honda caught her eye since it was out of place and the couple inside seemed odd. Having first noticed that the man and woman’s heads were down when she entered the parking lot, she decided it was something that needed to be investigated further when their demeanor hadn’t changed the entire times she was getting gas.
Since the windows were wide open, getting a clear view inside wasn’t hard, and that’s when she saw what each of them had in their hands, made worse by what was happening in the backseat.
A man identified as 31-year-old David Hastings was in the passenger seat and his wife, 27-year-old Jessie Lee Hastings, was in the driver’s position. Both were passed out with needles still stuck in their arms, WBTV reported.
The pair’s 3-year-old little girl was screaming in the back seat, drenched in sweat, and kicking the seat in front of her in an attempt to wake her parent passed out on heroin. Although the windows were down, it was a sweltering hot afternoon and the temperature in the car was unbearable since the air conditioner didn’t work.
After pulling the suffering toddler out of the car and to safety in the officer’s patrol vehicle, the cop searched the couple’s ride and discovered drug kits that came with everything these addicts needed to get high on the go, including, spoons, butane, cotton swabs, and syringes. These drug addicts also had a duck call that was covered in white powder residue, which tested positive for cocaine.
The Hastings were arrested and both charged with drug possession, possession of drug paraphernalia, and child abuse. They are each being held on $15,000 bond.
Meanwhile, a family member has taken their child, which was long overdue as this wasn’t their first run-in with the law because of their drug use. The couple was caught in May for stealing merchandise from Walmart and attempting to return it for cash. At that time, they were found with pills, syringes, and drug paraphernalia on them, but they still were able to keep their kid.
This child has endured unthinkable trauma that at her age actually prevents her brain from developing properly, which could have been prevented had someone paid attention and cared before a cop found them in the parking lot like this. This female officer was a godsend for the little girl, being in the right place at the right time, and she saved her from her parent’s demise.